William Wilson Talcott

Who was William Wilson Talcott?

William Wilson Talcott was an American football player, school teacher, newspaper publisher, and ice cream manufacturer.

Talcott played college football for the University of Michigan in 1897 and 1898 and was the starting quarterback for the undefeated 1898 Michigan Wolverines football team. After graduating from Michigan, he worked as a school teacher in Illinois and Michigan.

He entered the newspaper publishing business in 1905 and published The Englewood Economist from September 1906 to January 1918. From 1918 to 1920, he was the business manager of the Paris edition of the Chicago Tribune. He later went into the ice cream business in Chicago.

In August 1922, Talcott led a legal battle with the head of a so-called "love cult" with which his wife had become involved. The legal battle received national newspaper coverage. When his wife refused to part ways with the cult, Talcott committed suicide by jumping from an excursion boat off the shore of Chicago with rocks in his pockets.